It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything here.
But after what happened yesterday at the US Capitol, I’ve come back here to start writing posts again. There are thoughts I simply have to get out.
This blog has always been about the collision points between faith and cultures (plural, as there is more than one culture, despite how I have originally named this blog, which was back when I was still an evangelical). The last time I wrote something on it, it was 2013 during the Obama presidency. But a lot has changed since then. Not much with Franklin Graham (who was featured in the last post I wrote here, when I was discussing his persecution complex), but notably Graham and his fellow evangelicals have gravitated largely since at least 2016 (and some in 2015) to a bizarre political candidate in the person of Donald J. Trump.
Much ink has been spilled over the past five years about Donald Trump, his administration marked by incompetence and racism and cruelty, and the unwavering support of his evangelical fan club. People have expressed bewilderment over how they could have even supported an immoral, racist, casino-owning, thrice-divorced accused rapist like him in the first place when he first announced his candidacy in 2015, let alone after these last four horrific years of his administration. Nazis and other white supremacist groups have surged in emboldened activity on American soil since he was elected. There have been several incidents of mass chaos fueled by white supremacy, more than one synagogue shooting, intensified divisions, and barely any effort on Trump’s part to condemn the rise in violence he has incited (in the times where he has condemned the violence, it usually has required the insistence for him to do so from others).
What happened yesterday at the US Capitol was only the latest in a string of horrors spread out over four years, but it seems to be finally a turning point for at least some of Trump’s supporters in Republican leadership. I’m not yet sure if the tide is turning among evangelicals (though I hear that it is for some), but as welcome as their about-face is, I can’t help but say in response, “Too little, too late.”
I was crushed on Election Night in 2016. I stayed up late weeping, not only for fear of what would happen to me (I’m a trans woman), but also of what would happen to countless others who are even less marginalized than I am. And it turned out that even before the first year (2017) of Trump’s administration was over, the Charlottesville riots happened, spurred on by the countless Nazis and other white supremacists who shouted hateful slogans like “Jews will not replace us” and even killed a woman named Heather Heyer by running her over with a car. Anti-fascist protestors engaged the white supremacists, resulting in violent clashes, but the president’s response to that was, “There were very fine people on both sides.”
No. There are no “very fine” Nazis. The president had to be coerced into condemning Nazis and white supremacists explicitly, and that was days later. That shouldn’t be a hard thing to do.
And most evangelicals remained loyal to Trump and his followers through it all, even up to the last moment before what happened yesterday.
And what happened yesterday was something the US hasn’t seen in over a century.
At a rally yesterday morning, Trump urged his followers to go to the Capitol to protest the congressional certification and tallying of election results. Biden won, but Trump has been insisting otherwise without evidence and still has not officially conceded. After his rally, MAGA thugs stormed the Capitol and were able to get past the police inside the building, not too long after Ted Cruz’s speech arguing that Biden didn’t really win. Senators had to be evacuated, hidden in secure locations. Insurrectionists stormed the congressional floor and offices, where they were not legally permitted to be.
All of this was beyond abominable and amounts to nothing more than sedition and an assault on democracy. But what I want to focus in on about this event was a “Jesus saves” sign that was carried by one of the MAGA terrorists who stormed the Capitol.
This is where I want to talk about the verse I use for the headline of this blog. I’ve used this passage since this blog’s inception, when I was still an evangelical: “The righteous by their faith will live” (Habakkuk 2:4). The Hebrew word often translated as “faith” there is אֱמוּנָה (’emûnah), which can perhaps better be understood as “faithfulness” or even “steadfastness.” Its use through the Hebrew Bible (another name for “Old Testament”) is varied, but its most prominent meaning is “faithfulness.” Its verbal root, אמן (’-m-n), means to “be firm, faithful, trustworthy, safe,” and this is the same root for the Hebrew adverb אָמֵן (’āmēn), meaning “surely” or “truly” (it’s what we say at the end of prayers!).
In context, Habakkuk 2:4 is YHWH answering the questions of Habakkuk the prophet over how much longer judgment and violence will last. Habakkuk says in 1:2, “I cry to you, ‘Violence!,’ and you won’t save” (אֶזְעַק אֵלֶיךָ חָמָס וְלֹא תוֹשִׁיעַ). YHWH’s reply begins by contrasting the pride of the person being judged with the one who will live by their faith—or perhaps better, “faithfulness.”
Evangelicalism has long functioned on an easy-believism. It’s why, when reports came of Trump “accepting Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior” came to evangelicals’ ears back during his campaign, his evil deeds were more easily dismissed by “we’re all sinners” claims because they said he was forgiven of his sins, just as all those who are “justified by faith” are (I owe this insight largely to enlightening conversations with my friend Dr. Justin Tse, a geographer of religion). That is, they would say, “We’re all sinners saved by grace, but so is Trump now. So it doesn’t matter what he has done because he has now put his *faith* in what Jesus did for him on the cross.”
That brings me to the NT’s use of Habakkuk 2:4. Paul cites a Greek translation of it to bolster his arguments about what brings righteousness/justification in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11. Justification, Paul, says, only comes about by πίστις (pistis)—that is, “faith/faithfulness.” The Greek word πίστις in the New Testament also has a broad semantic range, just as the Hebrew word אֱמוּנָה does. There is even a phrase Paul likes to use in his letters— πίστις Χριστοῦ (pistis Christou)—which could be understood either as “faithfulness of Messiah” or “faith in Messiah,” depending on how one understands the “of”relationship between these two words. Or perhaps it’s both that is meant.
In any event, it doesn’t seem that faith ought to move one to violence. After all, Habakkuk asks YHWH to save him and others from violence (see Habakkuk 1:2). And if Jesus “saves,” must we see that salvation as an ethereal, “forensic” salvation from hell, as we were often taught? Perhaps it may be possible to say that Jesus “saves” one from devoting one’s life to violence, among other things, if one follows a responsible, non-oppressive interpretation his teachings and does not merely wear his name like a badge. We can get into the Hebrew and Greek verbs translated as “save” and their nuances in detail for our next post, but suffice it to say for now that “saving” in the Bible describes many situations and contexts, including deliverance from literal bondage and healing from disease.
If “Jesus saves,” may he save us from people like the person carrying that sign on the steps of the US Capitol yesterday. May he save us from oppression, from our own hatred of others, from our darkest motivations. May he save us from failing to recognize the humanity in all people. And may he save us from wicked actions—which the Bible refers to in many ways, but one of them is “sin.”
Be well. Be kind to one other. And love your neighbor. All easier said than done, but all super important for a healthy society. Anyway, those are my ramblings for today! Thanks for listening. :)
